Sparring over the Sixers arena, Jeff Brown responds to ethics probe, and other top moments

The Philadelphia mayor’s race took a combative turn Tuesday night when seven of the top Democratic candidates met for the first televised debate of the campaign.

Several candidates repeatedly attacked businessman Jeff Brown, who appeared on stage just a day after the city’s Board of Ethics accused him of violating the city’s campaign-finance laws. The contenders also sparred over the proposed Sixers arena, stop-and-frisk, education, and how to tackle the city’s gun-violence crisis.

» READ MORE: Who won the Philly mayoral primary debate? Our Opinion staff weighs in.

The debate, which aired live on Fox29 and was held at Temple University, comes just five weeks before the May 16 primary election. Ten Democrats are vying for the nomination, and there is no clear front-runner.

These were the top moments of the night:

Brown: ‘The establishment’ is behind ethics allegations

Jeff Brown has had a rough week, with the Board of Ethics on Monday accusing him of illegally coordinating with an outside group, and his rivals on Tuesday questioning his ethics.

But Brown appears to have settled on his response: The machine is out to get me.

» READ MORE: Philly mayoral candidate Jeff Brown calls ethics allegations a ‘political hit job’ during debate

Brown, a longtime ShopRite proprietor, is the only major candidate in the race to have never held elected office before. That, he says, is why the Board of Ethics filed a lawsuit Monday against a super PAC supporting his candidacy.

“This is about the political establishment not wanting the change that we so desperately need,” Brown said during the debate, in which he was questioned intensely on the issue by the Fox29 moderators. “This is a political hit job. This is not a reality.”

After the debate, Brown leaned even harder into attacking the ethics board, which is composed of five mayoral appointees and is tasked with interpreting and enforcing the city’s rules on issues such as campaign finance, lobbying, and political activity by city employees.

”It was created by politicians. They’re scared of the change,” Brown said.

» READ MORE: The Philadelphia Board of Ethics is accusing mayoral candidate Jeff Brown of illegally coordinating with a super PAC

The ethics board is an odd target for accusations of political cronyism. It regularly investigates and fines establishment-backed Philadelphia politicians, many of whom have been critical of the board over the years. The board, for instance, has previously fined several of Brown’s opponents in the mayor’s race.

The current iteration of the ethics board was established in an amendment to the Home Rule Charter that was proposed by City Council in 2005 and approved by voters in 2006.

The proposal came in the wake of the FBI bugging of the mayor’s office during John F. Street’s administration, and the legislation was sponsored by three lawmakers who were frequent critics of Street.

Two of them would go on to become mayor themselves: Michael Nutter and Jim Kenney. The other was former Councilmember Frank DiCicco.

» READ MORE: ‘The trash has to go somewhere:’ Jeff Brown draws rebuke over debate answer on Philly sending trash to Chester

The Sixers arena project loomed large

Two candidates took their firmest stances yet on the fate of the proposed Sixers arena in Center City, with Helen Gym saying she would not support the project based on what is known about it today, and Jeff Brown saying that he would support it.

Most candidates have avoided giving a yes-or-no answer on whether they would get behind the proposed $1.3 billion arena project that would be constructed along Chinatown’s border over the next decade.

The arena loomed large over the debate, which began politely with a policy-oriented discussion about public safety. When the arena came up, Gym quickly invoked recent news that a professional sports team — which many believe to be the Sixers — gave $250,000 to a super PAC backing Jeff Brown, saying: “It is kinda trash that they tried to buy one of the candidates on this stage.”

Brown later said he did not know if the 76ers donated to the independent-expenditure group supporting his candidacy.

”To my knowledge, I don’t think the Sixers organization even contributed,” he said, adding: “I don’t know, and it wouldn’t matter to me anyway.”

State Rep. Amen Brown, no relation, who has also expressed support for the arena project, questioned Gym, saying she met recently with the team despite expressing skepticism about the project.

Gym confirmed that she met with David Adelman, who is leading the 76ers’ development team. She said first that the two didn’t “discuss anything,” then later said she told him she was not in favor of public subsidies for arena projects.

Asked about her conversation with Adelman after the debate, Gym said he requested the meeting, which she described as a “general meeting.” She said they discussed the arena project “briefly.”

”As I said to David Adelman directly, Chinatown has to thrive, and billionaires don’t need public subsidies,” she said. “I do not think that we should be talking about supporting these entities right now. I think there’s a lot for us to figure out and learn.”

Jeff Brown said he met with Sixers ownership, Chinatown stakeholders, and with Comcast Spectacor, which owns the Wells Fargo Center, where the team currently plays.

”That’s what someone like us should do: meet with people, find out how you can bring people together to get an important project for the city done,” he said.

The Sixers came up once more: At the end of the debate, the candidates were asked which Philadelphia sports team will win the next championship.

Most of the candidates said the Eagles. Jeff Brown did too, then added, “but the Sixers have a chance.”

Sparring over stop-and-frisk and ‘defund the police’

Every contender has said public safety is the top issue facing the city, but on Tuesday they attempted to draw clearer distinctions between one another. Several candidates decried the crime situation in the city, with former Councilmember Cherelle Parker saying officials must urgently address “lawlessness” and former City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart saying there is “chaos on the streets.”

The first jab of the debate was delivered by Jeff Brown, who was asked how he would stem violence affecting young people. He responded: “The first thing I wouldn’t have done is defund the police like all the Council people on this stage tonight.”

The comments drew groans from the audience. He was referring to the 2021 budget adopted in the wake of the George Floyd protests when Council members — including Gym, Parker, Allan Domb, and Derek Green — voted to cancel a proposed $19 million increase to the police budget.

Council has since voted to increase the Police Department budget, which is $50 million higher than it was in 2020 and, at about $800 million, is the largest of any city agency.

» READ MORE: Philly mayoral candidates are distancing themselves from ‘defund’

The candidates were also asked about policing tactics, specifically stop-and-frisk, the controversial practice critics say is racially biased and an ineffective way to get illegal guns off the street. Asked to answer “yes or no” on whether they support the tactic, Brown, Rhynhart, and Gym said no. Others refused to answer.

”We need to move on from the failed practices of the past,” Gym said.

Parker, who has been the most open to the use of stop-and-frisk among the contenders, was asked later in the debate about the tactic and said the unconstitutional use of stop-and-frisk — in which officers stop a person without reasonable suspicion — has “disproportionately negatively impacted” Black and brown boys and men.

She said if used in a way that is legally sound, stop-and-frisk is “something law enforcement must use.”

Parker calls Gym’s education plan ‘imaginary’

Late in the debate, Gym touted her education proposal, which includes a 10-year, $10 billion plan to modernize school buildings.

Parker said, “Helen, that’s an imaginary plan.”

After the debate, Parker reiterated that it’s a “fake plan” saying: “Helen, you know better. What taxes will you raise? What services will you cut? She has to explain that.”

Gym has said the city can borrow cash to fund capital projects and said it should explore increasing the share of funding that the School District receives from city property taxes.

After the debate, she said Parker’s comments were “from somebody who doesn’t have a creative way on how to leverage investments for our schools.”

”Philadelphians are going to figure out pretty quickly that very few people on that stage have any kind of vision or plan for our kids, for education, or the future of our city,” she said.

Yet the race remains wide open

The first televised debate of the 2023 Philadelphia mayor’s race provided some fireworks, but politically, it likely did little to clarify the state of the wide-open race, with most candidates struggling to stand out on the crowded stage.

As expected, Jeff Brown was on the defensive. Gym may have been an indirect beneficiary of the timing of the ethics board’s announcement. Like Brown, Gym is considered a top contender, and her rivals may have done more to target her were it not for the news involving Brown.

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Parker, Domb, and Rhynhart all appeared to hold their own and get across key talking points on their public-safety platforms.

Green, who has so far struggled to gain traction in the race, will be hoping that he gave his campaign a needed shot in the arm by creating some notable moments, including a zinger aimed at Jeff Brown, who was a ShopRite proprietor before running for mayor.

”Selling a lot of Fruit Loops does not make you qualified,” Green said.